Lincoln scholar to talk about West Virginia’s creation

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A leading Abraham Lincoln scholar will be in the Capitol City Thursday to talk about West Virginia’s creation 150 years ago during the Civil War.

Harold Holzer said it was a decision Lincoln weighed carefully.

Courtesy photo

Harold Holzer was scheduled to speak about the creation of West Virginia, under President Abraham Lincoln, in Charleston on Thursday night.

“Lincoln took it, the Constitutional question, very, very seriously. He was not pleased with the options,” said Holzer on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

“He didn’t want people to think it was a political move to stack the Senate with a couple of new Republican Senators and some new House members that were going to vote his way.”

Holzer’s talk, the McCreight Lecture in the Humanities, is one of the last Sesquicentennial events from the West Virginia Humanities Council.

It is scheduled for 7:30 Thursday at the state Culture Center in Charleston. The event is free and open to the public.

President Bill Clinton appointed Holzer to the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Humanities Medal. He recently served as a script consultant for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.

He has written, co-written or edited more than 40 books about Lincoln and the Civil War era.

In addition to making numerous television appearances, Holzer serves as Senior Vice President for Public Affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.